Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization for States (Archived Tables)

Six alternative measures of labor underutilization have long been available on a monthly
basis from the Current Population Survey (CPS) for the United States as a whole. They are
published in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly Employment
Situation news release. (See table 15.)
The official concept of unemployment (as measured in the CPS by U-3 in the U-1 to U-6 range of
alternatives) includes all jobless persons who are available to take a job and have actively
sought work in the past four weeks. This concept has been thoroughly reviewed and validated
since the inception of the CPS in 1940. The other measures are provided to data users and analysts
who want more narrowly (U-1 and U-2) or broadly (U-4 through U-6) defined measures.

BLS is committed to updating the alternative measures data for states on a 4-quarter moving-average basis. The use of 4-quarter
averages increases the reliability of the CPS estimates, which are based on relatively small sample sizes at the state level, and
eliminates seasonality. Due to the inclusion of lagged quarters, the state alternative measures may not fully reflect the current
status of the labor market. The latest estimates are the averages from the
fourth quarter of 2015 through the third quarter of 2016. Data are also
available for the following periods:

The complete series for the state alternative measures of labor underutilization, including intermediate 4-quarter moving-average periods prior to 2009, as well as the underlying level estimates, are
available here in Excel file format. The level estimates for civilian labor force, employment, and unemployment do not match the official, model-based data from the
Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Nor do these levels match those presented in the annual bulletin Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment (GP), because the Current Population
Survey data for states are recontrolled to updated estimates of population produced by the Census Bureau prior to their publication in GP. Levels for the state alternative measures, rather, reflect the
forward population controls, to avoid distortion for intermediate 4-quarter moving-average periods.

The six state measures are based on the same definitions as those published for the U.S.:

U-1, persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer, as a percent of the civilian labor force;

U-2, job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs, as a percent of the civilian labor force;

U-3, total unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (this is the definition used for the official unemployment rate);